Jijabai Awards 2010-11

Urvashi Butalia

Born in 1952 she is an Indian feminist and publisher. Along with Ritu Menon, she co-founded Kali for women, India’s first exclusively feminist publishing house, in 1984. In 2003, following the closure of Kali for women, she founded zubaan books. She is also author of the award-winning oral history of partition, the other side of silence: voices from the partition of india .She has written on gender, communalism, fundamentalism and media. Her writings have appeared in several newspapers and magazines publications including the guardian, the new internationalist, the statesman, the times of India, outlook and India today. She has been a regular columnist for the left-wing Tehelka and for Indian printer and publisher, a b2b publication dealing with the print and publishing industry.

Asha agarwal

She is a former Indian sports person who has received many accolades for her brilliant performance in several sporting events. She is a former Indian women marathon champion, who has received the highest prestigious award in sports in India, the Arjuna award. On January 27th in the year 1985, Asha Agarwal won the Hong Kong marathon.

In September 1985, at the Asian track and field meet in Jakarta, Asha Agarwal won the gold. She has set a record of 2 hours 48 minutes and 51 seconds, which still stands as a record. In the year 1989, she also won the freedom race held in Delhi. In the year 1986, she won the Trinidad marathon and has run eight out of 26 marathons below 2 hours 50 minutes. Asha Agarwal is the first Indian woman to win marathon title in Asian championships for the year 1985.

Ishi khosla

She is a practicing clinical nutritionist, a writer, columnist, researcher, author and an entrepreneur. Ms. Khosla was the head of the nutrition department at the department of preventive cardiology in escorts heart institute and research centre, New Delhi, for several years, where she dealt with nutrition for cardiac patients, diabetes and obesity.

As part of her commitment towards community nutrition and public health, Ms. Khosla founded ‘The Celiac society for Delhi’, the first of its kind in India, in 2006 to spread awareness about celiac disease, a condition caused by wheat intolerance. She has also been listed among the 25 most powerful women in the country by the India today group.

Rajni Sekhri Sibal

She helped reveal the Haryana recruitment scam with 4 meters of cloth. The Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala was involved in a scam in which interview scores of 3200 teachers were manipulated to give jobs to those who had paid for it. Rajni was asked to participate in the scam for 5% of the bribe money collected, but she refused. She was promptly transferred but she had the presence of mind to seal the almirah containing the files of the teachers with 4 meters of cloth and have several officers sign it to prevent tempering of the files.

Prof. Sudershan pathak

Head of physical education and sports, University of Delhi. She has been the venue administrator for the commonwealth games, as well as chairperson, Delhi social welfare board. She has herself been an international player and was the first lady secretary for the Indian contingent of the ninth Asian games 1982. She was the manager, Indian team for hockey team for the world cup and seventh women Asia cup 2009- 2010. She has received many honors including the Bharat Nirman award for contribution in social sciences and the “bolt award” north Delhi state, to name a few.

Geetanjali Lal

Foremost among the leading kathak exponents geetanjali lal has carved a special niche in the world of dance. Trained by the great stalwaets like Roshan Kumari, Gopi Krishana, Mohan Rao Kalayanpurker and her husband Shri Devi Lal, Performing from the last four decades in all the major national and international dance festivals, Geetanjali has received encomiums for her brilliant solo exposition of Jaipur gharana and her own group choreographic works for which she has scored the music. Based in Delhi, she worked as a senior guru with the national institute of kathak where she trained number of students among which Vidha Lal and Abhimanyu have made a mark in the field of kathak. She was also the director of kathak kendra, the national institute of kathak dance, New Delhi. She held the post of chief of repertory kathak kendra from 2009-2012. She is a top grade artist of Doordarshan and (I.C.C.R) Indian council for culture relations, New Delhi.